


Autumn Leaves

by GVSpurlock



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-04
Updated: 2013-01-04
Packaged: 2017-11-23 14:38:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/623271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GVSpurlock/pseuds/GVSpurlock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sunlight and moonlight on a golden pond.</p>
<p>For <a href="http://onceuponabingo.livejournal.com/">Once Upon a Bingo</a> Prompt: Jiminy - Autumn Leaves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Autumn Leaves

**Author's Note:**

> Song lyrics from "[Windmills of Your Mind](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk63Psr3wzY)" by Marilyn and Alan Bergman. I've always thought this song appropriate for OUAT!

There was a body of water in the Forest that was slightly larger than a puddle and most certainly smaller than a lake. Perhaps you might call it a pond. A golden pond. For it captured the richest light of autumn sunset and kept it prisoner through the night. It was an eerie and beautiful sight in the darkness of the Forest, silver moonlight paling before its splendor. Geppetto’s workshop was only a short flight away, even for a cricket of unexceptional size.

Jiminy hovered above the pond, basking in its light and enjoying the thoughtless company of the dragonflies. They dove and twirled and soared, skimming the water and creating tiny ripples. A woman in a cloak filtered into the clearing, silent and swift and the embodiment of grace. She leaped into a tree in a single bound, but created no ripples. The leaves were still. Jiminy’s wings strained as he flew up, against the breeze, to get a glimpse of her face.

Her back rested against the trunk and her legs stretched out in front of her, seemingly at her ease. She wore a hood that concealed her face, but her eyes gleamed in the dark. Suddenly, she snapped forward, head whipping around.

“Who’s there?” she asked, voice ringing out across the water, low and pleasant.

Jiminy would have liked to answer her, to meet her, but people without magic couldn’t speak Cricket. And his translation engine was rather too large to travel. He experienced a rare moment of regret for his chosen penance. Perhaps his debt to Geppetto could have been paid while still maintaining his powers of human speech? Such regret was disloyal, though, and he discarded it. To entertain such notions was to dishonor the sacrifice of Geppetto’s loving parents and happy childhood.

So he remained silent. The woman slithered out of the tree and knelt, one hand braced on the ground. Her chin lifted and he could see her finely bladed nose in profile. There was a rustle in the woods behind her, autumn leaves crunching under a less-delicate tread.

“Red?” The voice belonged to an elderly woman, white-haired and sturdy with a crossbow resting comfortably on her shoulder.

The woman thrust her hood down. She was beautiful, chiaroscuro in the moonlight, not red at all.

“Granny? What are you doing out here? It’s late. Has something happened?”

“Nay, girl, the one o’clock hour has been called and all is well. You weren’t in your bed.” An edge of accusation in her voice.

“It’s nothing, Granny, I just…” she trailed off.

“I know. The moon’s calling.”

Red sighed, “And now we’ve both answered. Let’s go home.”

She slung an arm around the older woman and the pair crunched away from the pond. Jiminy watched them go wistfully. Perhaps she’d come again to enjoy the sunlight by moonlight. 

*** 

Ruby topped off Archie’s coffee with a smile. He was carefully cutting his pancakes into bite-size pieces.

“Can I get you anything else, Doc?” she asked, propping a hand on one hip.

Archie favored her with his crooked smile, “I’m all set, thank you, Ruby.”

“Lemme know when you need a refresh.”

He nodded distractedly and returned to his pancakes and newspaper.

Shortly thereafter, Pongo yelped. Archie turned to see— the handsome, brainless creature was going out of his mind with joy. Ruby, black-red hair whipping in the wind, was crouched down with a bowl of water in her hands. Pongo was jumping on her and Archie winced at the display of poor manners. She didn’t seemed bothered, though, ruffling his fur and scratching behind his ears after setting down the bowl, which he slurped down.

Archie watched them as he methodically ate his way through his breakfast. When Ruby came in, she was smiling widely with very pink cheeks. Granny yelled at her to go wash her hands, which she did with a good-natured eye-roll. She returned with the coffee.

“Ready for that warm-up now?”

He smiled up at her. “That was exceptionally kind. I hope Pongo didn’t get any mud on you? We did take the long way ‘round.”

“Oh, that rascal? Well, he waiting for you so patiently!”

Archie raised an eyebrow at that, “He’s jumped on everyone who’s walked by, including you.”

“Well, he can’t talk, now, can he? Has to say hi somehow,” she said, winking as she left to pick up Sheriff Swan’s check.

“No,” Archie murmured, “I suppose he can’t.”

He wasn’t sure why the thought made him a little wistful.

*** 

_Pictures hanging in a hallway_   
_And the fragment of this song_   
_Half remembered names and faces_   
_But to whom do they belong_   
_When you knew that it was over_   
_Were you suddenly aware_   
_That the autumn leaves were turning_   
_To the color of her hair_


End file.
